Prince William Worries About Unrealistic Beauty Standards for Young Girls

Prince William made a surprise visit to Ark Burlington Danes Academy on Thursday to talk to students about cyberbullying.

At one point, the Duke of Cambridge spoke about society's unrealistic beauty standards for women and criticized the vast amount of "fakeness" and "touched up" pictures across the web.

"I worry for you girls ... so don't try and recreate or think that's what, you know, you've got to aim for," he said. "There's a lot of fakeness online so don't worry about that."

Students Samara Hackett-Valton and Sophie Crowder, both 15, acknowledged the pressures William described.

"I take hundreds of pictures and delete them all because they're not what I want," Hackett-Valton said. "It's because of the celebrities. If they posted pictures of themselves just out of bed, that would make a huge difference."

Joined by British rapper Professor Green and YouTube star Daniel Howell, William said he didn't grow up with the same online influences kids face today.

"The online world is a whole new sphere that we never had to deal with," he said. "If you're trying to do your normal life and trying to get that right and make friends then you'll also try and do that online, that's a lot of pressure guys."

In addition, he spoke about the mental health campaign Heads Together—an initiative he's championed with Prince Harry and Kate Middleton over the past year. He also promoted Stop Speak Support—an online guide that teaches people how to address cyberbullying.

This isn't the first time William has addressed the topic of cyberbullying. Back in 2016, the Duke announced his plans to create an industry-led task force to address this issue. He launched the initiative in November 2017.